Is It Time To Lose Your Religion?

We are just a month away from this year’s Juneteenth celebrations. Juneteenth commemorates the fact that there were some enslaved people who were still in a state of bondage for several months after the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued and taken effect to free persons from slavery legally. These persons had legally been set free, but being unaware of the freedom they had been granted, they continued to be subjected to the daily atrocities of slavery. In fact even when they were told that they were free, their enslavers were still telling them that they were not free. As a result, many of them were confused, leading one older black woman to exclaim that she didn't know who to believe! In Galatians 5:1-15, Paul sets the record straight for the Galatian church about the freedom they had already received. They were being confused by the false doctrines of Judaizers among them and they were in danger of slipping back into a bondage that Christ had already saved them and set them free from. I pray that you will live fully in the freedom that God has already so graciously given to all believers! Amen

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Gal. 5:1-6). Paul warned the Galatian Christians that having been set free by Christ from bondage to sin, they should not then turn around and become enslaved to the Law of Moses. Judaizers were telling them that they must be circumcised to receive salvation. But Paul warned them that trying to achieve righteousness and salvation by keeping the Law, obligated them to keep every part of the Law. Additionally, by trying to achieve salvation through keeping the Law, they were in effect rejecting Christ by alienating themselves from Him and the salvation offered by Grace through faith in Him.

You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves! (Gal. 5:7-12). Paul asked the Galatian Christians who it was that had derailed them from the “good race” that they were running. They had believed and received salvation through Grace, but now they were being persuaded to throw all of that away for a legalistic doctrine. He told them that the small lie (a little yeast) regarding circumcision as a requirement for being saved would ultimately lead them to follow a theology other than salvation by Grace. He warned them that any of those who were misleading them would pay the price for doing that. He disassociated himself with the Judaizers’ false teaching. He told them that if their false teaching was right, then Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was all for nothing. Paul suggested that if circumcision had such saving power, then maybe the Judaizers should cut off the whole thing as opposed to just the foreskin!

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. (Gal. 5:13-15). The Judaizers had divided the church with a their false teaching. But Paul urged the church not to turn on each other. He reminded them that the greatest aspect of the Law was Love. In fact, when Jesus was asked to identify the greatest commandment in the Law, He responded to love God with our whole heart, mind and soul…and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matt. 22:34-40). The Galatians were “called” to be free… not to become slaves all over again to the Law. And having been set free, Paul urged them to use their freedom to serve one another in love and avoid the divisive forces among them.

Freedom is a precious thing. People throughout history have fought and died for it. In fact, Jesus too, came to die on a cross to give us salvation and freedom from the grip of sin. It was freedom that we could never have achieved through our own power to satisfy all the requirements of the Law. Paul was determined not to let the Galatian church throw away the freedom that Christ had already won for them. He vehemently argued that they should not put themselves back into bondage to the Law because doing so, they could never achieve the righteousness and salvation that they already had under grace. Likewise, we devalue God’s grace when we resort to legalistic attitudes and judgments on ourselves and others. Too many Christians and too many churches attempt to hold ourselves and others to impossible standards with legalistic rules and rituals that have nothing to do with salvation and righteousness. And in doing so, we become the modern version of the Judaizers that Paul denounced in the church in Galatia. It was only God’s Grace that saved us. It is the free gift of God that we could never do enough to earn. Grace gives us the freedom and relationship with Him that God intended when He created us. We should never discard it for legalistic views that we then use to judge people's fitness for righteousness and salvation, under the guise of being "religious". In fact, I would urge you to reexamine your understanding of God's Grace...you may find that it's time to lose your religion and adopt His Grace!

Blessings,

Rev. Glenn